Try Now, Checkout Option: Is It Worth It?

Shopping online may be the wave of the future, but it’s a far from perfect experience. Many people don’t like not being able to see, touch, smell and try on consumer goods before they buy as they would in a brick-and-mortar store.

---

Advertisement

---

A company called TryNow is working to change the online shopping experience for the better. Thanks to their innovations, online retailers can offer their customers the opportunity to try before they buy.

Is TryNow all that it’s cracked up to be? Is it worth it for online retailers? As a consumer, should you take the TryNow plunge?

Keep reading to learn more.

• Online Shopping: Convenience and Pitfalls
• Enter TryNow
• Broadening the Availability of Try Now, Buy Later
• TryNow: An Overview
• Key Features of TryNow
• How Much Does TryNow Cost?
• Who Is TryNow For?
• Things to Love About TryNow
• Is TryNow Right for Your Business?

Online Shopping: Convenience and Pitfalls

For the most part, people love to shop online. From kitchen gadgets to shoes, it is possible to get everything that you need or want with just a few clicks of the mouse.

This doesn’t mean that online shopping is a flawless experience. In fact, there are some ways in which it falls short of the brick-and-mortar shopping experience. 

True, there is no need to drive from one store to another just to find that one item that you want to bring home, but there are other potential shortcomings.

One of these is the need to return things. Let’s face it. Returning items that didn’t work out from online orders is a pain. Most online retailers put a great deal of the trouble and expense of returning items on the customer. This is perhaps the main reason that people tend to be wary of shopping online.

People return items from online orders for any number of reasons. Sometimes, it is because the item is defective or just doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to. However, the vast majority of returns happen because the item isn’t quite what the consumer expected.

Let’s take a cashmere sweater as an example. You order a new sweater with plenty of excitement and anticipation. You probably even check the mail every day to see if your new sweater has arrived.

When you finally receive it, you can see that the sweater is well-made with consistent stitching, but this doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Maybe it doesn’t fit quite the way you expected it to. Perhaps the color doesn’t match what you saw on your computer screen. Or, maybe it’s sheerer and thinner than you anticipated.

Regardless of the issue, you want to return that cashmere sweater. You’ll have to generate a return label, pay for shipping, repackage the sweater and get in the car to drop off the package.

It adds insult to injury because you expected to love and keep that sweater.

What if the online shopping experience were different?

Enter TryNow

This is where TryNow comes into the picture. 

Let’s stick with the example of the cashmere sweater. If you had been shopping in a brick-and-mortar store, you could have tried the sweater on in a fitting room. If there were problems with the color, size or thickness of the sweater, you simply wouldn’t have purchased it.

TryNow lets you do something similar in the comfort and privacy of your own home. Online retailers who work with TryNow allow you to load up your virtual shopping cart with any items that interest you. You don’t have to pay for the items up front because it is understood that you are simply “trying on” these items.

Your selected products will be delivered to your home, and you’ll have a chance to give them a try before you buy. You enter the transaction knowing that a return is the all-but-certain conclusion of your transaction. This makes the whole thing much less of a headache.

If you like all of the items that you ordered, you keep and pay for them. If not, you already held the mindset of needing to return items, so it doesn’t feel like such a big deal.

Plus, TryNow and the retailers who utilize it have taken steps to make the returns process much easier and less burdensome.

Broadening the Availability of Try Now, Buy Later

TryNow isn’t necessarily using a brand-new business model. In fact, long-time online operators like Amazon and Stitch Fix have been using a similar scheme for years.

However, those are large, well-established ecommerce businesses. What TryNow does is make the “try now, buy later” model available to even the smallest and newest online businesses. 

This versatile software suite can be used on any ecommerce platform, and it blends well with all sorts of shopping carts and products. Accordingly, you have the opportunity to try a business model that used to be reserved only for the big players. 

As some early adopters can attest, the “try now, buy later” model can be extremely attractive to consumers, which serves to highlight the products offered by new brands.

TryNow: An Overview

Try now, buy later is becoming increasingly popular with online businesses and their customers. Consumers simply love being able to load up a cart, place their order and pay nothing up front. This gives them an opportunity to give new products a test drive before they make a purchase decision.

Ecommerce businesses that add TryNow to their website tend to find that on-site messages and advertisements are especially appealing to customers. Click-through and conversion rates tend to rise with their use, expanding the reach of the brand and optimizing the retailer’s marketing spend.

It also doesn’t hurt that when customers order more, they tend to actually buy more. This translates to improved brand loyalty, higher gross profits for the retailer and better conversion LTV.

Being able to try a product at home is a major incentive for most consumers. Using TryNow may help the retailer lower their discount rates and increase Average Order Value, or AOV, by anywhere from 25 to 60-percent.

Clearly, the try now, buy later model is an attractive one. However, it is exceptionally difficult to implement without comprehensive software packages that make it a breeze. This is where TryNow excels.

That’s because TryNow’s purpose is to provide the digital infrastructure that is needed for even the smallest brands to automate their try now, buy later services.

Customers who have implemented the TryNow software on their websites report an average order value increase of 63-percent. Conversion rates typically rise by 22-percent, and return on ad expenditure may improve by 76-percent.

TryNow takes much of the risk away from retailers who are interested in using the try now, buy later model. Customized fraud management is a part of the package. TryNow even takes on inventory risk so that the merchant is guaranteed to get paid for any products that customers do not return. A deadline is set with each customer order. Items that are not returned by this deadline will automatically be charged using the payment data that the customer provided upon checkout.

Key Features of TryNow

One of the reasons why TryNow is such an attractive option for online retailers of any size is that it is highly customizable. You can set a custom return period and trial period. Additionally, you have the final say over restrictions in the cart and non-eligible items. All of these customizations can be made with just a single click, taking all of the mystery out of the process.

If you are already using returns management software such as Loop Returns, Returnly, Happy Returns or others, TryNow will integrate with it seamlessly. Moreover, TryNow works with a wide variety of SMS and email marketing solutions as well as Buy Now Pay Later apps like Affirm, Afterpay and Klarna.

One of TryNow’s more useful features is the shipment tracking that detects package delivery as the trigger for the trial period. With this process automated, much of the headache and hard work are eliminated for the retailer.

TryNow even features proprietary technology for preventing fraud. This part of the software guarantees that all retained goods are captured in every transaction. 

Moreover, TryNow’s software keeps the retailer’s customers in the know by providing them with periodic emails throughout the trial period. This helps to minimize goof-ups and forgotten returns.

Accounting reports and a comprehensive analytics dashboard make it easy for even a sole proprietor to track performance to determine how well TryNow is working for them.

How Much Does TryNow Cost?

The TryNow software package is set up to be perfectly scalable, which means that it works for every online business, even if you’re just starting out.

Pricing works the same way. You won’t pay any fixed fees for this service. Instead, TryNow assesses a small percentage of each transaction as its fee. 

Because this still may make it difficult for you to decide if TryNow is right for your business, they offer an ROI calculator that can help you make an informed decision. Find the ROI calculator using this link.

Click on the button that says “Calculate My ROI.” You’ll then need to choose a category of products that most closely relates to your goods. Currently, the categories are Fashion & Apparel, Shoes & Accessories, Cookware, Health & Beauty, Furniture and Electronics.

Next, TryNow needs to know your annual web visitors and your average conversion rate. The calculator then asks for your website’s AOV before discounts and returns as well as your average discount and return rates. Finally, enter your average return costs, which TryNow suggests typically averages between nine and $14 for online stores. 

To get your ROI estimates, you will have to enter your name, company name and email address.

Who Is TryNow For?

Amazon Prime Wardrobe, Stitch Fix, Warby Parker and others have been offering the try now, buy later model for some years now. Such in-house solutions are a major boon for these retailers, but they remained largely out of reach for smaller online brands.

TryNow has changed the game by making their software available to anyone with an online store. Whether you represent a major retail brand or are an entrepreneur who is just getting a shop off the ground, TryNow can be scaled to work for you. Also, because the only costs involved are on a per-transaction basis, you can be certain that adding the TryNow software to your website won’t break the bank.

Plus, TryNow is really easy to use. You don’t need any specialized knowledge or lengthy training sessions to add it to your ecommerce website.

If you are interested in increasing your conversion rates, then giving TryNow a spin is an obvious choice.

Things to Love About TryNow

TryNow actually has a great deal going for it. Here are some of the top features that make it an outstanding addition to any ecommerce website.

Online retailers love TryNow because of the native checkout experience. Even if you are not particularly tech savvy, you will have no difficulty adding this software suite to your website. The platform is perfectly compatible with existing ERP, OMS and returns management software. This means that you don’t have to rebuild your website from the ground up just to take advantage of TryNow. In fact, it is likely that you will not have to make any adjustments to the way that you already manage your website. Just add the TryNow software, and it does the rest, blending seamlessly so that your operations are not disrupted.

TryNow also makes incredible use of CTAs. As an online entrepreneur, you already know that all calls to action need to be specific, informative and easy to find. Still, that CTA shouldn’t interfere with the rest of the experience on your website.

The designers at TryNow seem to understand this, so they have created CTAs that consist of a single high-conversion button that can be dynamically adjusted to suit the purchasing option of the consumer. A pop-up with brief program details provides additional information adjacent to the pricing button that reads “$0.” These CTAs and pop-ups generally answer most customer questions before they are asked.

One of TryNow’s other major advantages is its merchant controls. It is highly configurable, putting retailers in the driver’s seat. Change your trial and return flow settings, adjust your program analytics and monitor your orders all in one easy spot. You have the power to customize the sales and shopping experience through TryNow by making tweaks to refunds, pricing, deposit requirements, minimums, exclusions, trial length and other parameters.

The TryNow proprietary fraud prevention system is another huge advantage for retailers. Developed though partnerships with payment processors and credit card networks, the system sets up retailers to get paid today while their customers will be charged tomorrow. This means that retailers have little reason to worry about losses.

Is TryNow Right for Your Business?

TryNow absolutely could revolutionize the way you do business. How many times have you said to yourself, “If only people could try my product, I’m sure they would love it?”

TryNow makes this possible, which can be particularly critical to the success of your small business. That’s because this service takes much of the risk out of online shopping for your customers. They are more likely to add more items to their cart, which gives them a better opportunity to get acquainted with your brand. Perhaps the try now, pay later model will entice them to experiment with products that they would not have tried otherwise. 

You can see how this would make your brand more visible, build customer loyalty and improve your company’s bottom line.

One of the downsides to TryNow is that they do not offer a free trial period. This means that you have to pay for their services from the start. The good news is that you are not signed up for a contract period so that you can cancel at any time if you decide that TryNow isn’t right for your business.

With the only fees for TryNow being on a per-transaction basis, it is almost a no-brainer to give this software suite a try. We think that it offers enough advantages at a reasonable cost to make it a powerful and attractive addition to any ecommerce website.